Manchester United will play Manchester City as part of the 2017 International
Champions Cup in the United
States, while also taking on Real Madrid and Barcelona, it was announced on
Tuesday. The Premier League sides were scheduled to meet in
Beijing during last summer's
tour to the Far East, but that
match was postponed just
hours before kick-off because
of concerns over the state of the National Stadium pitch
following torrential rain. City will also take on
Tottenham as part of the
American section of the 2017
ICC, playing at the Nissan
Stadium in Nashville,
Tennessee on July 29. The venue for what will be the
first Manchester derby played
overseas has yet to be
announced. However, the game on July 20
was included among the
fixtures released by ICC
organisers at Tuesday's launch
event from New York. Barcelona and Real Madrid
had already been confirmed to
meet in El Clasico Miami on
July 29 at Hard Rock Stadium. United will play both of the
LaLiga giants during their
summer tour of North America,
with ICC matches set for July
23 against Real Madrid at
Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara and three days later against
Barcelona at FedEx Field in
Washington DC. City, meanwhile, are set to
tackle Real Madrid at the Los
Angeles Colosseum on July
26. Tottenham will also meet Paris
St Germain in Orlando on July
22 with another game against
Italian side Roma in New Jersey three days later ahead
of the clash with City. Spurs travelled to Australia
last summer for ICC matches
against Juventus and Atletico Madrid in Melbourne. In total, United have confirmed
five matches in the United
States, with the tour set to
kick-off against Major League
Soccer sides the Los Angeles
Galaxy, at StubHub Centre on July 15, and Real Salt Lake, at
Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah on
July 17. Playing so many pre-season
friendlies crammed into such a
short time frame and with the
travelling involved may raise
eyebrows, given recent
complaints about fixture congestion from United boss Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese coach claimed
United must have ''lots of
enemies'' because of the
intensity of the schedule they
have now been burdened with
as a result of prolonged progress in the EFL Cup and Europa League this season. Mourinho's predecessor Louis
van Gaal was critical of the
club's summer schedule in
2014, when they also visited
the USA. As a result, United's
tour the following summer was shorter. Speaking of United's summer
plans for 2017, executive vice-
chairman Ed Woodward, said:
"Tours are vital for the team's
preparations for the season
ahead and we are facing top- class opposition in world-class
stadiums, ensuring it is the
ideal environment for the
manager and team to prepare. "Everybody is excited for the
tour and it gives us the
opportunity to play in front of
some of the millions of Manchester United supporters which we have across the
USA."
